The community team

Rabbi Oded Mazor began serving as the community's rabbi in the summer of 2019.

A decade earlier, during his rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem (ordained in 2009), he served as the community's education coordinator and as rabbinical assistant to Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kalman, the community's founder.

Rabbi Oded grew up in liberal communities his entire life: the "Darache Noam" community, the Reform community in Ramat Hasharon where his father, Rabbi Yehoram, served as the community's rabbi, and the "Hod Vehadar" community in Kfar Saba (traditional) where the family was a member; the communities of the Noam and Noam-Telem youth movements and the Kibbutz Ketura community in the southern Arava, where he was a member of the Nahal core. The significant place of community in his life led him to find his communal home in "Kol HaNeshma" as a student, and from there the ties deepened.

After his ordination, Oded and his wife, Yaela, moved to Kibbutz Hanaton, where he took part in the life of the community in a variety of areas, including partnering in leading the ceremonial and educational aspects of the kibbutz. Rabbi Oded also worked with neighboring communities and families throughout the area in celebrating life cycle events and Jewish holidays. From 2010 to 2018, he worked at the Leo-Buck Education Center in Haifa as the rabbi of the elementary school division, teaching Judaism to all age groups, and later also coordinating the center's relations with Reform and Liberal Jewish communities in Britain. Rabbi Oded also taught at several pre-military preparatory schools in the north of the country.

Rabbi Oded was the editor-in-chief, alongside Rabbi Levi, of the "HaSimcha Shevlev" prayer book, which is a joint production of "Kol HaNeshma" and MARM - the Council of Progressive (Reform) Rabbinate in Israel. Rabbi Oded was a member of the editorial committee of the Reform movement's new siddur, "Tefilat Adam" (published in November 2020), which includes a number of prayers and poems that he composed.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, Rabbi Oded was a fellow in the Mandel Program for Leadership in Jewish Culture, and since 2021 he has been a fellow in the "Hani" Foundation.

Rabbi Oded serves as a member of the Ramat HaRam Secretariat and teaches in the Israeli Rabbinical Program at Hebrew Union College.

Oded, Yaela and their three children now live in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Oded Mazor

rabbi.oded@kkh.org.il
02-5312789

Anna Estemker, CEO

Anna was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel with her parents in 1994, when she was three years old.
Since then, she has been a Jerusalemite at heart – in a city where the multitude of voices, stories and identities is an inseparable part of everyday life. She is married to Ronen, mother to Roni, Shai and Noam, and lives in Pisgat Ze'ev.

From a young age, the issue of Jewish identity intrigued and attracted her, and her personal journey – from participating in the “Nativ” course and the military conversion process to becoming the director of a religious Jewish community – became a central component of her adult identity. Anna likes to say that there is no one way to be Jewish, and that each personal story is part of a broader mosaic of peoplehood, family, tradition, choice and community. Her story is not just hers – it reflects the journey of many who seek to belong, grow and find a meaningful home within the Jewish-Israeli space.

Anna holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the Hebrew University, and is currently a student in the "Embroidery" program for Jewish education.

Her role at Kol HaNeshma allows her to be part of a process of change – communal, social, and personal – and to contribute to shaping a space where people can feel a sense of belonging, learn from each other, and express their Judaism in diverse and meaningful ways. For her, it is a privilege to advance a vision of an open, professional, and diverse community that reflects the Jerusalem she loves.

Nitza Atias

Director of the kindergardens

For more than 18 years!